The 60+ Names of Sugar in Disguise

If you saw the title of this article and thought ‘What the? More than 60 names for sugar?!’ – I hear you.

When I discovered all the alternative names for sugar in disguise that I share below, and started looking at labels more closely, I was shocked!

There are some super sneaky sugar names out there.

Some don’t sound like sugar at all, but a random ingredient that could well be a stabiliser, preservative or flavour enhancer.

You might be wondering – why is this the case? Why the need to put sugar in disguise?

Well, once the adverse effects of sugar on health became well known, consumers started looking more closely at ingredients lists.

If sugar was in the first, second or third place in the list, they’d typically avoid buying that product.

Manufacturers wised up and shook up the ingredients list by introducing these alternative sugars so ‘sugar’ wasn’t so prominent on their ingredients lists.

In case you’re not aware – manufacturers are obligated to list their ingredients in order of predominance of each ingredient.

Take a cake for example.

If the manufacturer only uses refined table sugar, sugar would be the first or second ingredient in the list.

Whereas if the manufacturer uses 3 or 4 types of the alternative names for sugar below (which I’ve seen many times), these ingredients will be spread out through the list. Et voilà! We have sugar in disguise.

So to an untrained eye, the ingredients list might not look so bad – especially if none of those names sounded like sugar.

Hence while sugar content is easy to identify on nutritional info labels, it can be a little trickier when it comes to ingredients.

And this is especially so since alternative sugars have been introduced, as they’re flying under consumers’ radars because they’re simply not aware of them.

So what are these sugars made from?

If you’re keen to be a super savvy sugar sleuth, or you’ve been looking at the ingredients lists on labels for a while and wondering what these sugars in food are made from, here’s an overview of the most common names for sugar.

(If you’re not interested in the detail – jump to the bottom of the article where I give you the whole list of alternative names for sugar).

Brown sugar

Brown sugar is typically made from sugar crystals contained in molasses syrup with natural flavour and colour. Some refiners make brown sugar by adding syrup to refined white sugar. It contains 91-96% sucrose (so is half glucose and half fructose).

Cane juice/evaporated cane juice

Cane juice/evaporated cane juice is made from sugar cane and consists of two simple sugars – glucose and fructose.

Corn syrup

Corn syrup is produced by the action of enzymes and/or acids on corn starch, which splits the starch into sugars. Three major producers’ corn syrup contain 42%, 55% and 90% fructose. Dextrose comprises of the remainder.

Dextrose or glucose is also known as corn sugar. It’s commercially made from starch by the action of heat and acids or enzymes. It’s sold blended with regular sugar.

High-fructose corn syrup

High-fructose corn syrup is a sweetener made from corn starch. The amount of fructose varies based on the manufacturer. An enzyme linked process increases the fructose content, making high-fructose corn syrupsweeter than regular corn syrup.

Invert sugar

Invert sugar is a mixture of glucose and fructose. Invert sugar is formed by splitting sucrose in a process called inversion. This sugar prevents crystallisation of cane sugar in confectionery production.

Lactose

Lactose, AKA milk sugar, is made from whey and skim milk from cow’s milk. The most common place you’ll find lactose as an ingredient is in pharmaceutical products.

Levulose

Levulose (fructose) is a commercial sugar much sweeter than sucrose. Its sweetness depends on its physical form and how it’s used in cooking. Fructose, known as fruit sugar, occurs naturally in many fruits – which is fine when you eat a whole fruit with fibre to slow down the release of sugar into your bloodstream, yet can be problematic when added as an ingredient without fibre.

Raw sugar

Raw sugar consists of coarse, granulated crystals formed from the evaporation of sugar cane juice. Raw sugar contains impurities and cannot be sold in grocery stores due to food safety regulations.

Sorbitol, mannitol, maltitol and xylitol

Sorbitol, mannitol, maltitol and xylitolare sugar alcohols or polyols. They occur naturally in fruits and are produced commercially from sources as dextrose. Some people experience side effects like digestive upset when consuming sugar alcohols, particularly sorbitol.

The 68 names for sugar in disguise: alternative names for sugar

Print out the list below and keep it with you – or bookmark this page on your phone and you’ll never be caught out! (there’s also a handy infographic at the end you can save to your phone or device).

Agave

Barbados sugar

Barley malt

Beet concentrate

Beet sugar

Blackstrap molasses

Brown rice syrup

Brown sugar

Buttered sugar

Buttered syrup

Cane juice crystals

Cane sugar

Caramel

Carob syrup

Castor sugar

Coconut sugar

Confectioner’s sugar

Corn sweetener

Corn syrup

Corn syrup solids

Crystalline fructose

Date sugar

Date syrup / molasses

Demerara sugar

Dextran

Dextrose

Diastatic malt

Diatase (this isn’t sugar, but an enzyme that breaks down starch into maltose, then glucose)

Ethyl maltol

Evaporated cane juice

Fructose

Fruit juice

Fruit juice concentrate

Galactose

Glucose

Glucose solids

Golden sugar

Golden syrup

Grape concentrate

Grape mist

Grape sugar

High-fructose corn syrup

Honey

Icing sugar

Invert sugar

Lactose

Malt syrup

Maltodextrin

Maltose

Maple syrup

Molasses

Muscovado sugar

Oat syrup

Panela

Panocha

Raw sugar

Refinerʼs syrup

Rice bran syrup

Rice syrup

Sorbitol

Sorghum syrup

Sucrose

Sugar

Syrup

Tapioca syrup

Treacle

Turbinado sugar

Yellow sugar

You might be wondering – are any of these sugars better than others?

If you’re assessing sweets or cakes at a health food store, or wanting to bake your own, there are three sugar alternatives I recommend – raw honey, date syrup/molasses and blackstrap molasses.

One of the problems with refined sugars like sucrose, table sugar, is that it’s devoid of micronutrients, and also uses nutrients in your body to process.

Let me explain.

Sucrose is extracted from either sugar cane or beets and then refined.

During processing, it’s stripped of vitamins, minerals and fibre.

This kind of sugar requires extra effort from your body to digest and assimilate.

Your body must deplete its own store of minerals and enzymes to absorb sucrose properly.

Others have known side effects and health concerns, particularly Aspartame, Acesulfame K and Sucralose.

Artificial sweeteners can trick the body into thinking you’ve consumed something sweet, causing insulin to be released. This can lead to fat storage, and can increase appetite, which those consuming sweeteners want to avoid.

I don’t know about you, but i’m an advocate of eating natural foods – not something created in a lab!

I hope this article is a valuable resource for you. You now know all about the types of sugar in disguise in food.

You deserve to know what you’re putting in your body, and so do your loved ones, so please share this article with them so they too can be savvy with sugar!

To your health,

Melissa x

PS: A challenge for you. Go through the products in your pantry or fridge and take a snap of one that contains 2 or more of these sugars in disguise you’ll no longer consume. Then post it in the comments with your commitment to no longer eat that product, or find a healthier alternative 😉

2 Comments

Thank you for the heads up Melissa, so glad to have found your web page, and get signed up for your newsletter too.

My Queens health is very important to me as time rolls by for us both, and as I am the one who does the food prep-n-cooking for the both of us, it is imperative that I keep myself alert about the contents of her daily food intake.

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